Chronic inhalation of polluted air appears to activate a protein that triggers the release of white blood cells, setting off events that lead to widespread inflammation, according to new researchin an animal model.

Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences — an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders. Boosting such neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus also produced antidepressant-like effects when combined with exercise, in the study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

OHSU's research to combat the world's obesity epidemic, which is being conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, continues to receive extensive coverage in the press. In the past few weeks, obesity research has been highlighted in The New York Times, and on ABC's Nightline

Scientists have used stem cells to grow a rudimentary eye in the laboratory in a landmark study that raises the prospect of creating tissues to treat blindness and tease apart how diseases can destroy eyesight.

Researchers at North Carolina State University are narrowing the search for genes involved in non-Hodgkin lymphoma – by turning dogs into humans. Humans and dogs don’t just share companionship and living space, they also share a similar genetic makeup. Additionally, they share the same types of cancer, including lymphoma.

Solving part of a medical mystery, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have established a link between molecules found in an inflamed pancreas and the early formation of pancreatic cancer – a discovery that may help scientists identify new ways to detect, monitor and treat this deadly disease.

Researchers have identified a molecular mechanism that may explain why so many cancers spread to patients' bones -- they piggyback on signaling pathways that hematopoietic stem cells use to home to the bone marrow for self-renewal.

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a way that mutations in a gene called LRRK2 may cause the most common inherited form of Parkinson's disease. The study, published online this month in the journal Public Library of Science, shows that upon specific modification called phosphorylation, LRRK2 protein binds to a family of proteins called 14-3-3, which has a regulatory function inside cells.

A new study of prostate tumors has shown that a gene, FOXO3, suppresses activation of cells related to immunity and thus leads to a reduced immune response against a growing cancer. One of the main problems in treating cancer by vaccine or immunotherapy is that tumors often evade the body’s immune response — and one of their tricks is to create an environment where immunity is inhibited or suppressed.

A combination approach for arresting and reversing amyloid plaque buildup in the brain has proven effective in studies of transgenic mice with this feature of Alzheimer's disease, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a recent issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Avian embryos could join the list of model organisms used to study a specific type of cell migration called epiboly. The new study provides insights into the mechanisms of epiboly, a developmental process involving mass movement of cells as a sheet, which is linked with medical conditions that include wound healing and cancer.

The latest clues suggesting potential new ways to treat melanoma come from an unlikely source: fish. Zebrafish don't get sunburns, but they can get skin cancer – at least those fish that have been engineered to model the often deadly human cancer.

A unique antibody from a llama could prove to be a key weapon against C. difficile, a nasty infection that is a growing problem in many hospitals throughout North America. Clostridium difficile is a common cause of infectious diarrhea in nursing homes and hospitals and usually occurs in patients who have been taking regular antibiotics for an infection.

By mutating a single gene, researchers at MIT and Duke have produced mice with two of the most common traits of autism — compulsive, repetitive behavior and avoidance of social interaction. They further showed that this gene, which is also implicated in many cases of human autism, appears to produce autistic behavior by interfering with communication between brain cells.

It's been more than 20 years since scientists first discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CF), yet questions about how the mutated gene causes disease remain unanswered. Using a newly created pig model that genetically replicates the most common form of cystic fibrosis, University of Iowa researchers have now shown that the CF protein is "misprocessed" in the pigs and does not end up in the correct cellular location.